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Many Canadian senators make money outside the Senate

Many Canadian senators hold paying jobs outside of politics, including lawyers and corporate directors who earn thousands of dollars in fees.

"I make sure that if I take on any obligations, they don’t interfere with my Senate duties and I really work hard at that," says Conservative Senator David Tkachuk. (FRED CHARTRAND / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo)

"If you’re in your mid-50s and you have a family and other financial obligations, I think you do have a duty to do what you can responsibly and to get paid fairly,” says Conservative Sen. Hugh Segal. (Senate of Canada)

OTTAWA—Lawyers, motivational speakers, corporate directors and even a Christmas tree farmer are all sitting in the Canadian Senate — and making extra money from their moonlighting, too.

A Star analysis of the latest disclosures that senators made to the Senate ethics officer shows all but 17 of the 101 senators whose summaries are available online said they received, or expected to receive, additional income of more than $2,000 within the year before or the year after signing the declaration.

The basic annual salary for a senator is currently $135,200, with extra going to those who have roles such as chairing committees.

Nothing in the Conflict of Interest Code for Senators prevents them from enjoying a life — and a paycheque — outside politics, so long as they disclose it to the ethics officer, avoid any conflicts of interest and put their Senate duties first.

This includes practicing a profession, such as practicing medicine like Conservative Sen. Dr. Asha Seth, or, in the case of Liberal Sen. Elizabeth Hubley, being the artistic director of a traditional dance studio.

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It also includes owning or otherwise remaining involved with a business, such as the Christmas tree farm owned by Conservative Sen. Donald Oliver, and having a role as a director or an officer in a corporation, union, non-profit organization or other association.

Nearly half of them collect a pension, too.

“Part of the role of a senator is to be active in his or her community,” said Liberal Senate leader James Cowan, one of eight senators who still practices law, although he said he has reduced his role at Halifax firm Stewart McKelvey, where he is a partner, to dealing mostly with long-term clients.

“I think the more experience we bring to the Senate from outside politics and the community, the better senators we are,” said Cowan, who is also receives an honorarium for being corporate secretary to the board of directors at the Halifax International Airport Authority.

Conservative Sen. David Tkachuk, who sits on the board of directors for Calian Technologies, Inc., a technology service provider based in Ottawa, said it is important to know which job is the priority.

“I understand and I have always understood fully that my primary business is the business that I was appointed to, which is the Senate,” Tkachuk said.

“I make sure that if I take on any obligations, they don’t interfere with my Senate duties and I really work hard at that.”

Outside experience can also mean making money.

Since most senators who declared additional income referred to private businesses — including some big ones like the Toronto Argonauts and the B.C. Lions football teams, both owned by Conservative Sen. David Braley — there is no way to know exactly how much the majority of senators are benefiting from their side jobs.

Nine senators did disclose being on the boards of directors at publicly traded companies, which means the fees and other compensation they were entitled to can be found in corporate documents.

Together, they were entitled to at least $868,792 in directors’ fees and at least another $294,508 in share- or option-based awards.

Conservative Sen. Michael MacDonald received no director’s fees from Canada Coal Ltd., although he was entitled to $35,640 in option-based awards, whereas Conservative Sen. Hugh Segal was entitled to a total of $357,315 in fees and share-based awards from his positions at Just Energy Group Inc. and Sun Life Financial Inc.

The compensation Liberal Sen. Paul Massicotte is entitled to from Agellan Commercial Real Estate Income Trust, which had its initial public offering this January, is not yet available.

Her disclosure to the ethics officer has not yet been updated to reflect the change.

The rules are similar for the House of Commons, where MPs are also allowed to have jobs and sit on boards, so long as they are not cabinet ministers or parliamentary secretaries, who must follow stricter rules for conflict of interest given their more powerful roles in government.

Segal said there is good reason to not forbid backbench MPs and senators to carry on business outside politics.

“I think (that) would give us, in both chambers, folks who come from certain social and economic strata and it would exclude a lot of other people like teachers and farmers and people, who have worked on an hourly basis, and folks who own small businesses from ever getting involved, because they couldn’t afford it,” Segal said.

New Democrat MP and ethics critic Charlie Angus, whose party has long wanted to abolish the Senate, said he understands that rationale but does not think it should apply to senators.

“If you’re in the Senate, you’re elected for life and there is very little scrutiny of what happens in the Senate,” Angus said.

“Senators, until they got themselves in trouble (with the Senate expenses scandal), always flew under the radar,” Angus said.

Segal noted the threshold where MPs are required to disclose additional income is much higher at $10,000, which he argued is because people can vote an MP who spends too much time at another job out of office, whereas senators are appointed.

Segal, who is a senior adviser at Toronto law firm Aird & Berlis LLP and a senior fellow at the Schools of Policy Studies and Business at Queen’s University, defended his decision to continue a lucrative life outside politics.

“It’s one thing if you’re somebody in your 70s, but if you’re in your mid-50s and you have a family and other financial obligations, I think you do have a duty to do what you can responsibly and to get paid fairly,” said Segal, who added he would have declined the Senate appointment if the rules had prohibited receiving outside income.

Tkachuk put it more plainly.

“You get paid for doing work,” he said.

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